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Cheesy solution on the way for unpaid York City schools meals?

Proposed York City schools policy would offer sandwich if students don't bring money.

By ANGIE MASON Daily Record/Sunday News

Updated:
09/16/2013 06:57:41 AM EDT

York, PA -

Some York City School District officials are hoping cheese sandwiches might help them address the problem of students who aren't paying for their meals.

Under a proposed policy presented to the York City School Board on Monday, students who don't bring money for lunch could get meals on three different days before having their main entree swapped for a cheese sandwich. They'd receive the sandwich, plus a fruit and/or vegetable and milk, until their account balance is caught up, the proposal says.

Christopher Talley, with the district's food service provider, Aramark, said he has been working with the district business manager to come up with the proposal. The food services program was profitable, but the uncollected revenue brought the program back down into the red, he said.

"The cheese sandwiches are an encouragement for students to let parents know ... hey, I received a cheese sandwich, what are you as a parent going to do about it," Talley said.

The district would also designate someone to follow up with families when a child receives a cheese sandwich to see if the family has filed an application for the free and reduced lunch program, or needs to do so.

Either way, the district isn't going to deny a child lunch or breakfast, said Supt. Eric Holmes. But the district has to pay for it.

Holmes said the district believes that probably close to 95 percent of its students qualify for free or reduced lunch. But the percentage of students actually in the program is only in the high 80s, so the district is likely paying for lunches that should be covered by the program.

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He noted that only maybe 10 percent of students would be affected by the proposed policy, since so many students qualify for free and reduced lunch.

Diane Pratt-Heavner, spokeswoman for the School Nutrition Association, said unpaid meals is a growing problem for schools nationwide. She said many people don't realize that the school meals are not funded through a district's regular budget, and that food programs have to be self-sufficient.

"So if a student just shows up and doesn't have money for a meal, it's a loss in revenue for the program," she said. If it's a regular problem, it can impact a program's ability to make healthy improvements or even keep serving meals.

Pratt-Heavner said the important thing is to make sure policies are communicated with parents.

York City School Board member Diane Brown said she doesn't like the idea because it punishes children for something that is their parents' responsibility.

"We need to be more proactive as a district in contacting these parents," she said. "Maybe we can solicit volunteers to help get those applications completed."

Sandie Walker suggested the policy should state that it's the district's responsibility to contact parents once a student has reached the three-meal limit.

Margie Orr, board president, said that at some point parents have to be held accountable.

"I hate to see it happen to a child but it's their child," Orr said. "We can't continue to make excuses for these parents."

The board wouldn't vote on the proposal until its November meeting, officials said.

Advocacy

The School Nutrition Association wants the federal government to develop guidelines to help schools address the problem of unpaid meals, according to Diane Pratt-Heavner, spokeswoman.

Right now, there's no real guidance for how schools should respond to a child who doesn't have money for lunch or for how they should manage the debt that is incurred from unpaid meals, she said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says there are no requirements for schools to serve unpaid meals, she said, but they encourage schools to do what they can.

The association has urged Congress to require the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the National School Lunch program, to establish consistent guidelines on how to address that, she said. Now, policies vary in terms of the number of meals students can charge if they don't have money, alternative meals provided and how money is collected, she said.